Restore Property Rights For Waterfront Property Owners

For more than 140 years, all Wisconsin waterfront property owners had the right to place a pier to enjoy Wisconsin waterways.

A decision by the Wisconsin courts could have taken that right away for those who live on flowages. With that decision, landowners and small businesses, which invested thousands of dollars on their waterfronts to improve and enhance their property, were on the verge of losing the right to place any pier along the water’s edge — just because someone else may own the ground under a man-made lake.

Gov. Tony Evers signed 2021 Wisconsin Act 47 into law and permanently protected pier rights for all waterfront property owners, including those who live on the 260 flowages throughout the state.